Browse by Type: Reports
Health Reform: Lessons from the Massachusetts Experience
This report summarizes the impact of health reform thus far and may be used as a point of reference for policy makers who are considering approaches to health reform elsewhere at either the state or national level. If the Massachusetts model continues to work, all or part of this model and its supporting principles may be useful in local or national health reform efforts.
Who Gained the Most Under Health Reform in Massachusetts?
An eight-page issue brief that analyzes the impacts of health reform on insurance coverage across different population groups in the state. Specifically, it examines differences in insurance coverage by demographic characteristics (e.g., age, race/ethnicity, and gender), health status, employment, and geography.
The Impact of Health Reform on Underinsurance in Massachusetts: Do the insured have adequate protection?
A 10-page issue brief that assesses the extent to which the insurance provided in Massachusetts under health reform in 2007 protects individuals from financial risk in the event of a major illness or injury.
Massachusetts Medicaid in Perspective: An Analysis of Spending Growth and Economic Growth, 1996-2007
This issue brief updates "MassHealth and State Fiscal Health: A New Look at the Effects of Medicaid Spending on State Finances," through 2007.
The Basics of the Massachusetts Medicaid Program
A fact sheet that introduces MassHealth, the Massachusetts Medicaid program, describing its basic structure, benefits and beneficiaries. It examines how enrollment and spending have changed over time and describes some current policy issues and challenges.
Pathways to Public Health Insurance Coverage for Massachusetts Residents
An easy-to-use guide describing public health insurance options in Massachusetts and a set of flow charts illustrating the eligibility pathways to these programs for low-income people and families, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Also available on the Pathways to Coverage website.
Implementing the Rosie D. Remedy: The Opportunities and Challenges of Restructuring a System of Care for Children's Mental Health in Massachusetts
The district court ruling in Rosie D. v. Romney, and the subsequent remedy now being implemented by state health and human service agencies, have the potential to transform the delivery of mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances in Massachusetts. This issue brief explores the implications and potential effects of the case and the resulting remedy on the MassHealth program, other state programs, the behavioral health and social service delivery systems, and affected children and their families.
Pay-for-Performance to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care in the Massachusetts Medicaid Program
The 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law included a provision to make Medicaid hospital rate increases contingent upon quality measures, including measures of the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities. To date, no other pay-for-performance programs have incorporated measures of the reduction of racial and ethnic disparities into their incentives. MMPI organized the Massachusetts Medicaid Disparities Policy Roundtable to bring together a group of experts to develop and recommend an approach to implementing the program.
Forging Consensus: The Path to Health Reform in Massachusetts
An independent report by health care journalist Irene Wielawski that examines how various interests in Massachusetts politics forged consensus to pass the 2006 health reform law.
Medicare Part D: Successes and Continuing Challenges
The creation and implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit -- "Part D" -- attracted wide national attention and controversy. This paper, produced in collaboration with the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, looks beyond the anecdotes and gives a progress report on the impact of Part D in Massachusetts for Medicare beneficiaries -- 200,000 of whom are also MassHealth members and for state health programs such as MassHealth and Prescription Advantage.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program in Massachusetts: Achievements, Challenges, and Implications for Health Reform
The issue brief examines how SCHIP is part of the Commonwealth's universal coverage strategy; how SCHIP is funded in Massachusetts; and the funding shortfalls the program now faces. The brief also details how the SCHIP program and funding are integrated with MassHealth, and the implications of that connection for the upcoming negotiations to extend the MassHealth waiver.
The 2006 Massachusetts Health Reform Law: Progress and Challenges After One Year of Implementation
This report is an overview of the first year after implementation of the Massachusetts health reform law. It catalogs some of the most significant milestones and achievements and describes how policymakers, stakeholders, and the new Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority and its Board managed a host of potentially contentious issues and decisions.
The Outlook for Medicaid in Massachusetts
This report examines some of the important issues, opportunities and challenges facing the MassHealth program at the outset of a new Governor's administration including renewal of the the MassHealth waiver, improving the value of MassHealth purchasing, rebalancing long-term care, and providing strong leadership and bolstering staff.
The Massachusetts Health Reform Law: Public Opinion and Perception
Report on the results of a September 2006 public opinion poll of Massachusetts residents on various aspects of the health reform law, prepared by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health for the BCBS of Massachusetts Foundation.